The Week That Was #12: end of the 3rd Quarter

#9 posting 2.11.2007
your daily dose of girls basketball news & information

THE WEEK THAT WAS #12: end of the 3rd Quarter
9 games, 6 days, 1 speeding ticket.

This past week didn't and couldn't match week #11 with the dramatics. The theme for this week could have been: Revenge. Both Mpls South and Somerset, WI took revenge on teams that beat them recently. It also was a bad week for teams with North as Mpls North took it on the chin by South, North St. Paul fell to Cretin-Derham Hall. In games not seen by me, but keeping with the North theme, #2 Sheboygan North had their 54 conference game win streak snapped in four overtimes on Friday. #1 4A Iowa team Sioux City North lost on Saturday to Waukee 67-64 on Satruday.

Looking at the trends in ppg100/floor% we now have enough to measure class A and, as a group, Wisconsin.
AAAA 81.85, .399
AAA 71.45, .346
AA 78.04, .383
A 67.48, .334
WI 75.18, .373
Nothing really too shocking in this evaluation, with A coming in under AA. The only ? is why AAA is lower than the AA. Wisconsin is a mix of all different classes mixed, but mainly 2s and 3s.

I went to the Valley Conference tournament in Nicollet. On the way there I picked up a speeding ticket west of St. Peter. Was the speeding ticket it worth it? no.
Let us look at the bracket teams from 06 and 07 and compare the pp100 and floor %.
06 82.77, .414
07 77.6, .384
As you can see the quality of play in the Valley is not what it was last year. Nicollet won the tounament both years, but last year GHEC, the second place finishers in both years, made it to the A state championship and finished second last year.

TEAM OF THE WEEK
What a difference a week makes. Last week Mpls North was honored. Maybe there is a GBBrecruit curse out there because North lost twice this past week. But for turning the tables and slamming the door defensively Minneapolis South gets the nod this week. This is South's second weekly win of the year (also week #2). Both times their defense floor % held their opponents Fulda in week #2 to .229, North this week to .280. For the games I have seen South has been consistent on offense with a 107.04, and .516. When they lost to North it was their defense that broke down, not the offense. With North's loss to Roosevelt on Friday, South could face St. Paul Central in the Twin City game on Saturday, Feb. 24. South will have to beat Roosevelt to go.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For stepping up the defensive activity and being on a mission it has to go to Tayler Hill. As always her offense was on, it was the defensive intensity on Maurika Hickman that ignited South's 80-42 win over the Polars. She will need to provide the same defensive intensity for the post season. Hill has been on the first team in all the times she has been eligible this year (weeks 2, 11, 12).
The first team also features a pair of past winners: week 2s Alyssa Karel of Cretin-Derham Hall and week 9s Bri Zabel of Northfield. Karel also was a first teamer in week 9 and is 3/4 on making the list missing out due to low floor % and pp100 in the Champlin game in the Hopkins final. Zabel is 2/2.
The rest of the team
First Team
Tayler Hill, Mpls South
Alyssa Karel, Cretin-Derham Hall
Megan Plourde, Somerset, WI
Melissa Streit, Maple River
Bri Zabel, Northfield
Second Team
Rachel Bauer, Faribault
Erin Goebel, St. Clair
Ephesia Holmes, Mpls South
Samantha Hoyt, Durand, WI
Kelsey Jacobson, Moorhead

You know the requirements: 10 possessions, +100 pp100, and +.500 floor %, but Kelsey Hulke of Nicollet just missed the cut off with 9 possessions. She gets a special mention with her 200.0 pp100 and .778 floor %. She had four 3s against Nicollet and also had 6 d wraps and didn't play a full 36 minutes in the 70-38 Valley Conference championship win.

DEFENSIVE WRAP TEAM
Danielle Daniels, North St. Paul
Tayler Hill, Mpls South
Joni Lillo, St. Clair
Megan Plourde, Somerset, WI
Bri Zabel, Northfield

SEEDING STATE
A weekly look at where I see things shaking out.
Seed, Team, section
AAAA
1 St. Paul Central, #3
2 Mpls South, #6
3 Champlin Park, #7
4 Minnetonka, #2
5 Lakeville North, #1
6 Moorhead, #8
7 Osseo #5
8 White Bear Lake #4

AAA
1 Becker, #4
2 Detroit Lakes #8
3 Rogers #6
4 New Prague #1
5 Holy Angels #3
6 Marshall #2
7 Mpls North #5
8 Hibbing #7

AA and A, unfortunately, do not seed their tournaments.
Which leads us to the next topic: Dangerous sub .500 teams
These are teams that will have a lot to say who advances to state and are dangerous to overlook. I am not saying they will get to the promised land, but will provide some white knuckle rides for those attempting to get there.
AAAA
1. Hastings has 6-8 Catherine Hintz which is a game changer right there.
4. The entire section other than White Bear Lake has a losing record. Watch for Roseville with Talisha Barlow to make a push for the state again. Forest Lake, North St. Paul and St. Paul Johnson can't be counted out. St. Paul Como Park, and Arlington can be counted out.
5. Armstrong went to state last year with a poor record. This year could be year #2. They are getting bloody noses against big teams. But they also have eye opening wins against Woodbury, Benilde-St. Margaret's and Wayzata.
6. Burnsville had a decent start, but then injuries have knocked them off kilter. They will be in the weeds in this brutal section.
8. Elk River went to state last year without an outstanding W/L record. They play in the rough and tumble NW Suburban and that diet will help them come playoff time.
AAA
1. Red Wing. They started the season hot at 8-0, were even ranked, but are 2-11 since then.
Waseca was upset last year by Lakeville South (since moved to AAAA), but this year they could upset the unwary. They did knock off Albert Lea by 10 this year.
2. You look at Hutchinson's record (7-13) and think not a problem, but most of their losses have come by narrow margins in the Missota conference. They have six losses by five points or less. They did beat Mankato West in January.
3. Hill-Murray is no longer sub 500, but at .500. They own a win over Marshall back in December.
AA
These teams may spring an upset, but I don't see them spring more that are required to get to the big show.
1. Wabasha-Kellogg
2. St. Peter
3. Benson, Redwood Valley, MACCRAY
4. Lake City, Breck
5. GFW
6. none
7. Proctor, Pequot Lakes, International Falls
8. none
A
Again I don't see any team rising up and marching to the Target Center. They may rise up and make the Semis of the sub section however. In fact only a handful of teams fill the bill
4: West Lutheran
5: Underwood
6: Lake Park-Audubon (at .500)
7: Littlefork-Big Falls, Orr
8: Warren-Alvarado-Oslo

I will continue by evaluation of the look at the classes next week. We have done the 2006s, 2005s. Next week I will conclude with the 2004s and 2003s.
If you noticed today I added a MN points exchange on the College report so you can see the top 5 performers of the day with MN ties. I hope to add that for other states, but don't look for it this year.

THE WEEK TO COME
Monday, Feb 12
Glencoe-Silver Lake at Litchfield. A Wright County match up. GSL leads the league.
Tuesday, Feb 13
Eden Valley-Watkins at Albany. Two teams that made the AA State tournament last season.
DGF at Crookston. two 8AA powers from south and north trying to establish momentum for the playoffs.
Lakeville North at Eastview. Youngsters vs the leaders of the Lake.
Edgerton at Minneota. 3A powers from South & North.
Sleepy Eye St. Mary's at New Ulm Cathedral. two private school powers, two Tomahawk powers, two 2A North powers. one will be happy at the end of the night.
Marshall at Pipestone. Marshall won the first time, Pipestone is looking for revenge.
Caledonia at Rushford-Peterson. Three Rivers South rivals, but they are in separate classes.
MN Valley Lutheran at Springfield. You need more Tomahawk action?
Wednesday, Feb 14
Valentine's Day.
Thursday, Feb 15
Rogers at Becker. Mississippi 8 title on the line.
Blaine at Champlin Park. Last time Blaine had CP on the ropes.
Fergus Falls at St. Cloud Tech. FF owns a win over Tech.
Friday, Feb 16
Rochester Century at Albert Lea. Big 9 rivals.
Osseo at Centennial. NW Suburban rivals. Osseo was close before.
Minnetonka at Edina. Classic Lake battle, also 2AAAA implications.
DGF at Hawley. Heart O'Lakes on the line.
Winona Cotter at Hayfield. Hayfield has one loss to Cotter.
MN Valley Lutheran at Sleepy Eye St. Mary's. Tomahawk confrontion.
Cedar Mt-Comfrey at Springfield. Tomahawk Confrontation II.
Saturday, Feb 17
Marshall at Sioux Falls Roosevelt. interstate battle between two teams with state resumes.
Albany at St. Cloud Tech. Albany's lone loss is to Tech. marquee Match up
MCAA Tournament. Championship in the evening.

AREA MUST SEE GAMES
Iowa starts their postseason tomorrow. ND will fill their B regionals on Monday and Tuesday. This is the last week in the regular season coming for Wisconsin and SD. The days are flying by. If you haven't gone out to see some of the talent the days are dwindling.
IOWA
Feb 15 Spencer (17-4) takes on Spirit Lake (21-1) in the Iowa 3A districts.
SD
Feb 13 Bridgewater-Emery vs Mitchell Christian. This could be the day Jill Young tops the all time SD point record.
Feb 15 Baltic at McCook Central. both from different classes.

Thanks to the readers for keeping me and the world updated on what is going on in the girls basketball world.

Next up: tomorrow morning